Huntington Library Japanese Garden

Background

This past weekend we headed out to the Huntington Library located in San Marino, California, just East of Pasadena. The grounds were hosting the California Bonsai Society’s 52nd annual show where my father had a tree on exhibit and also conducted a live demo.

The Huntington Library is a 120 acre site that has over a dozen specialized gardens such as the Japanese, Chinese, Desert, Rose and Palm Gardens. On the property are also several museums that house works of art such as sculptures and paintings, the most famous of which are The Blue Boy and Pinkie.

How to get this type of shot

The photo above was taken in the Japanese Garden section of the Library and is of a souza, or Japanese fountain. The scene immediately caught my eye due to the texture of the stone basin contrasting with the water. The Japanese maple and bamboo trees serve as both the background and add color to the scene. For the shot I used a telephoto focal length of 98mm in order to compress the image and also to restrict the field of view to eliminate distracting elements from the background. I used an f-stop of f/16 so that I could slow down the shutter speed and get just a hint of flow in the water. The use of a polarizing filter allowed me to further slow the shutter speed and to cut down on glare from the foliage and reflection from the water.

Location

The stone fountain in the Japanese Garden at the Huntington Library (Coordinates: 34.12603,-118.115948)

A beautiful capture of a souza. The texture and rustic colours of the scene have been augmented by your technically beautiful photo, with the slight movement in the water helping to bring it to life. I enjoy your work as you find more obscure, less obvious subjects than many photographers, The detailed info in your text adds a great deal to the post.

Meet Mark

Mark is a scientist living in San Diego, CA. He loves being outdoors and traveling. Always with him is his Canon EOS 5D Mark III. Mark has been shooting since 2009. Join him as he documents his travels and everyday life. Learn more about Mark click here.